Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2017

SOLAR SYSTEM 5 A stronomy is definitely a science that is generous with plot twists, ones that can radically change our view of the cosmos. At times, the origin and nature of certain celestial bodies seem adequately ex- plained by the commonly accepted theories, but then we discover that the reality may be something else al- together. The latest example of this is the main asteroid belt, the part of the solar system that contains about 1 million rocky structures larger than 1 km (for a total of in for belt T his illustration gives an idea of the possible ap- pearance of the ring of planetesi- mals that produced the inner planets and the S-type as- teroids. [NASA/ JPL-Caltech] NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2017